Amazon Prime Video is betting BIG on The Lord of the Rings for its streaming service. A dynamite creative team has already been assembled behind the scenes with a growing roster of actors all set to star in the new TV series based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. It should have been expected that Amazon had high hopes for the series given their hefty price tag for the series, but their confidence in what could be a “Game of Thrones killer” is without a doubt as they’ve given an early season 2 renewal to the series.

 

News of the early renewal comes from Deadline who reports that while pre-production on the show’s first season is moving along that Amazon decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on more episodes. The writer’s room for the series will begin breaking the story for season 2 after concluding work on the first. Amazon’s initial deal for the rights to the Tolkien text included a multi-season commitment, so it shouldn’t make tonight’s news that much a surprise; however, the commitment was never set in stone and as the trade notes “each consecutive season after the first has to be formally greenlighted by the streaming network.”

 

The trade also offered an update on the time table for the series, reporting that that production on Lord of the Rings will go on a “4 to 5 month” hiatus after the first two episodes have been shot. This break will allow the writing staff to map out the second season and re-evaluate anything from those first two episodes.

Production on the Lord of the Rings series will begin soon in New Zealand, featuring a cast that includes Will Poulter as Beldor and female lead Tyra, played by Australian actress Arkella Kavenagh. Joseph Rawle of Game of Thrones will play the series’ lead villain, Oren. Writers JD Payne and Patrick McKay will showrun the series with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom filmmaker J.A. Bayona directing the initial episodes.

Details of the series are still in flux and have been heavily guarded, but the assumption is that the stories will be set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, but before the events of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Sauron, then, will likely be a lingering presence but not the series’ principal antagonist.

 

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